Difference Makers: Churchill volleyball player finds her recipe for success as a culinary coach for younger kids

As the culinary coach to an entire roster of wide-eyed, elementary-school-aged kids, Sasha Meshcherekova is never far from a sprig of basil and a fistful of freshly chopped mint leaves.

After all, they provide the full flavour to the frosting that tops off her specialty recipe for strawberry cupcakes.

Yet there have always been things more important than just the icing on the cake for the Grade 11 middle blocker with the senior varsity volleyball team at Vancouver’s Sir Winston Churchill Secondary.

Beneath the surface, her community outreach has helped her discover her own essential ingredients, including a passion for mentorship and a growing sense of purpose and confidence in her ability to both reach and teach young students.

Difference Makers, our annual series on high school student-athletes with an uncommon desire to improve the quality of their communities, is defined by those like Meshcherekova, a three-sport athlete (volleyball, tennis, ultimate), tireless volunteer and a published gourmet chef who leads with her spatula when the call comes to pay forward her passions.

“She is able to do something that we as teachers all work on doing every day, and that is being a teacher,” stresses Churchill athletic director Vince Chan. “Sasha can already teach a cooking curriculum and she uses her passion to connect with younger students because they love who she is.”

TEACHING HER CRAFT

Sasha Meshcherekova jumps for a kill as a member of the Churchill Secondary School girls volleyball team.

The daughter of Russian immigrants, Meshcherekova was born in Canada soon after their arrival, and grew up in an environment where athletics, academics and community service were all encouraged.

“I started playing tennis when I was three and my dad wanted me to be the next Sharapova,” she laughs. “I’m happy he did because it made me competitive and it made me hard-working.”

Off the courts, Meshcherekova’s volunteerism has been off the charts. She has given time the past three years to the Stanley Park Ecology Society as part of its stewardship program, which focuses largely on park maintenance and upgrades. And her baking skills have come in handy helping to fund raise for charities like the Starlight Children’s Foundation and the Ride to Conquer Cancer. Both she and her mom Olga have also helped the Vancouver Food Bank.

And at her school, when she’s not playing for the Bulldogs as an athlete, she’s volunteering as both an official and a scorekeeper.

Yet it is has been in the kitchen where her myriad of skills have best manifested themselves.

A real leaper on the volleyball court, where she is hoping for a university career, the 5-foot-11 Meshcherekova jumped at the chance to lead a cooking class last spring when she saw it being offered as part of Churchill’s High Five leadership program, which gives students the chance to work with elementary school kids in an after-school setting.

From the start of the two-month program, the opportunity for her was always more than just teaching the kids how to whip up dishes and treats.

The best way to put it?

Guy Fieri, one of the most recognized faces on The Food Network, once quipped, “Cooking with kids is not just about ingredients, recipes, and cooking. It’s about harnessing imagination, empowerment, and creativity.”

And that’s just the tack Meshcherekova took.

“You really develop a bond with the kids because I had to teach them everything from how to read a recipe, how to chop, how to measure, and our whole goal was to steer them in the direction of healthy food,” she says, comparing the process to a young person’s first steps in any new endeavour. “Afterwards, I was able to just talk with them about what they wanted to be when they grew up. That, to me, was even more memorable than the recipes.”

RECIPE FOR SUCCESS

Meshcherekova is still not fully sure what she wants to do with her professional life.

With a self-professed love of biology, she has pondered the possibility of plant study and genetics. But if she decides to fully embrace a life in the culinary arts, she won’t be entering that very competitive field as a wannabe hopeful.

In fact she could bring a resume to the table that would impress even Gordon Ramsay.

Last year, she entered the sweepstakes to join the cast of The Food Network’s Chopped Canada Teen Tournament, and within its quarterfinal format fell one challenge shy of qualifying for its grand finale, a $20,000 winner-take-all title to decide the best young chef in the nation.

With the glare of the TV cameras on her, and the time for each challenge ticking, Meshcherekova opened with a grilled rib-eye steak, sautéed spinach and chocolate salsa verde.

Said one of the judges: “That salsa verde was a revelation.”

Next was a chicken breast and sausage bibb lettuce wrap, a dish so yummy that another judge said “This is one of the best lettuce wraps I have ever had.”

In the final round, however, her specialty dessert, a Thai basil cupcake with pie-crust topping, was not enough to carry the day.

“I’ve watched that show millions of times and I am just obsessed with The Food Network,” Meshcherekova says. “I just applied on-line and never thought I would make it. For me it was just an amazing experience.”

She’s had others as well.

Learning the fine art of the souffle has been a challenge she has embraced, and last spring, during a family trip to Europe, she found herself in Belgium watching as wide-eyed as her own pupils as master chefs worked their magic with chocolate and pastry.

And while Difference Makers is about the act of volunteerism, it does bear mentioning that Meshcherekova is already a semi-professional chef.

After four years of classes at The Dirty Apron cooking school in Vancouver, she is now teaching summer camps each July and August.

“She has shown the ability to adapt to different situations,” says Dirty Apron chef instructor Matt Cooke. “She’s gone from a place of learning to one of teaching, but she has always been very advanced and very passionate. The one thing I have always talked to Sasha about, is that we try to teach the kids not so much how to cook, but how to taste.”

And there is no question that Meshcherekova has taken that lesson to heart.

In fact, as she has visited the family back in the old country, with stops in Vladivostok and St. Petersburg, her love of cooking has intersected with her love of family and the taste of traditional Russian fare.

“I learned the family recipe for borscht from my grandpa,” she says of the Russian soup. “But he wouldn’t write it down for me because he didn’t want it given away.”

The one thing she will reveal is that she will never stop volunteering.

“I’ve had a very privileged life,” she says. “I have had so many great opportunities. But I also recognize that there are so many who are not as well off, and they need our help.”

And so with a sprig of basil and a fistful of freshly-chopped mint leaves, Sasha Meshcherekova is on the way.

The Grade 11 from Winston Churchill Secondary has already had it published and it’s the same recipe she used in the final round of The Food Network’s Chopped Canada Teen Tournament.

Says the chef: “Having this recipe published was the first affirmation that I got that I was good at cooking and really pushed me to get into what I do. It still is one of my favourite recipes that I have ever created.”

1. For the cupcakes: preheat an oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the milk and the vinegar and set aside for 5 minutes. Then stir in the oil, granulated sugar, and vanilla.

3. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and beat until smooth. Fold in the strawberries and basil.

4. Fill the muffin cups two-thirds of the way. Bake until a toothpick that is inserted into a cupcake comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely before frosting.

5. For the frosting: In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream together the cream cheese and the sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla and mint extracts until combined. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until the desired sweetness and texture is reached. Fold in basil and mint.

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